This is a blog centering on Dr. Petrosino's course at The University of Texas at Austin entitled " EDC 365E Project Based Instruction in STEM Education." This is the capstone course in the UTeach Natural Sciences professional development sequence. It also serves as a forum for Dr. Petrosino's thoughts and ideas on Project Based Instruction and educational reform.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Class 3: 09/01/2011-Ethics & Field Observations

Today Dr. Petrosino joined the class via Skype for a while
and led a discussion over the Eratosthenes problem and how it related to us as
future teachers. He explained that problems and information come in three types
or levels: factual, conceptual, and innovation or transfer. The factual
information, contained in the pre-quiz we took online, is an area that the United States is very good at teaching and
assessing. Conceptual information involves synthesizing ideas from several
sources, making inferences and applying ideas within a field. Innovation or
information transfer involves taking information learned in one field and using
it in different ways in another field. Factual information is very critical to
know, but it has been shown that experts have conceptual and transfer abilities
that we need to pay more attention to and encourage.

The Eratosthenes problem synthesizes math and science
concepts and requires innovative, creative transfers between the fields. Dr.
Pertosino explained that the reason he introduces these complex problems to us
as students it so get us use to using all three levels of problem solving and
information. These creative problems are difficult, even if the factual
information is already known, as many groups found out in Tuesday’s activity.
This semester, our goal will be to move from consumers to producers of complex
problems, coming up with ways to design, assess, and form lessons around them.

We spent the remainder of the class period discussing the
safety and ethical standards of teachers. Prudie, our UTeach master teacher, led a discussion using
the below “Ethics and Resoponsibility presentation. Below is a summary of what we
discussed in class (3.1-3.7), but you can also review the entire Texas Teacher
Code of Ethics here.

3.1:
The educator shall not reveal confidential information concerning students
unless disclosure serves lawful professional purposed or is required by law. We
decided that confidential information included everything from grades, learning
disabilities, and behavioral or medical issues to personal contact information.

3.2 The
educator shall not knowingly treat a student in a manner that adversely affects
the student’s learning, physical health, mental health, or safety. This
means knowing the individual needs, considerations, personalities, and
boundaries of your students. It includes being fair with participation and not
picking favorites. Sara and Tara also pointed out that most students do NOT
understand sarcasm and to resist using it until you are absolutely certain the
student(s) can handle it.

3.3 The
educator shall not deliberately or knowingly misrepresent facts regarding a
student. Do not assume things about your students’ lives or
abilities. If necessary, approach another teacher who interacts with the
student or a counselor with questions or concerns, but do make sure that you
are looking for solutions and not just gossiping about problems.

3.4 The
educator shall not exclude a student from participation in a program, deny
benefits to a student, or grant an advantage to a student on the basis of race,
color, sex, disability, national origin, religion, or family status. This
means making sure accommodations are met for ESL students and students with
disabilities during field trips and other activities to assure they can
participate. We also noted that athletes should not be given special treatment
and to stand your ground against inevitable pressure from family, coaches, and
others to make sure things remain fair to all of your students.

3.5 The
educator shall not engage in physical mistreatment of a student. This
seems really obvious (don’t hit your students, duh!), but as Tara pointed out,
you are legally not allowed to touch students even if you are being attacked,
students are fighting, or a special ed student has an episode. In these cases,
get an administrator or person who is trained to handle these problems! In more
general, less severe cases where you just get frustrated take a time out and
think before you yell or act.

3.6 The
educator shall not solicit or engage in sexual conduct or a romantic
relationship with a student. This one also seems really
obvious, but the point is to not even allow a situation to occur where these
types of behaviors might be inferred. That means, don’t Facebook friend your
students, text them, or be alone with them in a place that could not be
observed by another adult.

3.7 The
educator shall not furnish alcohol or illegal/unauthorized drugs to any student
or knowingly allow any student to consume alcohol or illegal/unauthorized drugs
in the presence of the educator. Again, another one that seems
obvious, but “unauthorized drugs” includes everything from the illegal ones to
benign ones like Advil and cough drops. We also took this opportunity to point
out that tobacco products are not allowed on school grounds whether you’re a
teacher or student. If you smoke, leave your cigarettes at home!

Other rules and standards include:
* Showing up when you’re supposed to be there and being early so you can deal
with any unforeseen circumstances.
* Dressing professionally: ladies, watch your neckline and remember leggings
are not pants. Field trip attire will be discussed at a later date.
* Being respectful to your supervisors, peers, students and mentor teachers.
* Making your personal webpages private and removing inappropriate material
from the web.
* And more! Again, check out the powerpoint for lots of important extra information.
* (For our experience at MNTH) DO NOT EAT PEANUTS OR HAVE PEANUTS ON YOU OR
EVEN THINK ABOUT PEANUTS (okay, maybe you can think about them...) at MNTH
because a student there is super highly allergic to them.

Last
minute things: Prudie passed out our teaching assignments and
a field observation form. We need to observe our mentor teacher, obtain a roster
and note any attention getters and procedures the teacher uses during class
sometime in the next week or so.
Figure out what technology is available to you and how to work with it (set it
up, practice with it, and talk to your mentor teacher about special glitches).
It is also encouraged to go around seeing other classrooms and teachers to get
a feel for the project based learning environment.

Each day in PBI a different student takes
responsibility for blogging about what goes on in class. Today’s blog is brought to you by ­­Katye.

About Me

Dr. Petrosino is a graduate of Columbia University's Teachers College (MA, 1990) and received his PhD from Vanderbilt University (1998). He completed a post-doc at the University of Wisconsin where he was a member of the National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics and Science (NCISLA). In 1999 he accepted a Professorship at the University of Texas and received tenure in 2004. He holds the Elizabeth G. Gibb Endowed Fellowship in Mathematics Education. Dr. Petrosino has published over 20 peer reviewed journal articles, made over 100 national and international conference presentations and has supervised a dozen doctoral dissertations. He has received over 30 million dollars in grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education and the McDonnel Foundation for Cognitive Studies. He is a founding professor of the nationally recognized UTeach Natural Sciences preservice teacher education program. From July 2007 to August 2009 he served as the Assistant to the Superintendent in the Hoboken School District.